Operations research in the management of the airlines

This paper is intended to present an introduction to the use of operations research in the international airline industry, and to demonstrate the scope and significance of the airline OR activities. First, the special reasons for the viability and spread of airline OR are discussed. Then a functional framework for an airline is outlined, to be used in analyzing the problems of an airline and relating the OR work to it. Four major applications are described, corresponding to four major components of the framework. These applications are: schedule development, overbooking control, crew scheduling and engine management, respectively. In each case we describe the problem and its significance, indicate the types of solution techniques which have been developed, and assess the implemented solutions. The paper concludes with comments on the current state-of-the-art and the future of airline OR. A detailed bibliography is given.Both of the authors have been operations research directors in major airlines and more recently have focused their attention upon the industry as academic researchers. This background has provided us with an unusual opportunity to analyze the role of OR in the airlines, and our paper seeks to share with the reader some of the insights we have gained thereby.     

The Effectiveness of Housing Management

This article examines the performance of different kinds of landlords in providing housing management services to their tenants by reviewing a number of recent studies on housing management effectiveness. In particular the performance of mass-landlords (councils and larger housing associations) is contrasted with that of small-scale, locally-based, resident controlled landlords such as co-operatives or community-based housing associations. Although the evidence is not conclusive, it points to worse performance by large landlords. The paper then assesses the relevance of this evidence to current housing policies and argues that they are unlikely to lead to more effective housing management which is often held by the Government to be one of their major objectives.     

股东参与治理的私人收益和社会收益的实证研究

本文探讨了股东参与治理所带来的私人收益、特定股权结构的社会收益以及股权集中成本三者之间的关系。我们分析的结果表明,当股东与经理人员之间的利益冲突水平较高、其它治理机制的作用较弱时,股权集中(股东参与治理的积极性较高)可以创造大量的社会收益;反之,股权的集中与分散程度(股东参与治理的积极性较低)对社会收益的影响不明显。本文的研究结论为我国股东参与治理及股权结构改革提供了重要启示。     

Development of the Drake Beliefs about Chance Inventory

The present research describes the development and validation of a cognitive assessment instrument, the Drake Beliefs about Chance (DBC) inventory, designed to determine and quantify erroneous beliefs about games of chance. Principal components analyses showed that the DBC assesses two primary dimensions, Illusion of Control and Superstition. Correlation analyses showed that scores on these two dimensions are related to higher frequency of gambling behaviors in both adults from the general population and clients from gambling treatment centers. Of the two sets of erroneous beliefs, Illusion of Control was a better predictor of gambling than Superstition. This investigation provides additional evidence that participants in games of chance such as casino gamblers possess certain classes of erroneous beliefs regarding the games they play.     

EXPERIENCING OCCUPATIONAL REHABILITATION IN NSW: NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING BACKGROUND WOMEN'S VIEWS

Research suggests that work-related disabilities suffered by women from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) are disproportionate to their representation in the population. This paper presents data from a preliminary investigation into the experiences of work-injured NESB women in the NSW workers' compensation system since 1987. It argues that NESB women are, and perceive themselves to be, disadvantaged by the present workers' compensation system particularly in regards to occupational rehabilitation. This is largely because the higher rates of chronic work-related injury make the rehabilitation of NESB women less cost effective for rehabilitation providers. As a result both the quality of life and future productivity of these women are substantially degraded. The article concludes that changes at the organisational level, including improved data collection are required in order to meet the needs of this group of high injury-risk workers more adequately and more equitably.     

Ambiguities and contradictions in the provision of sheltered housing for older people

This paper examines the current model of sheltered housing and explores a central contradiction in that model: namely that if only those people who most need and appreciate the unique features of sheltered housing were allocated places in schemes, the existing model ultimately could not provide sufficient support. This central contradiction leads to a fundamental lack of clarity in the role of sheltered housing. This is reflected in the ambiguities apparent in allocation practices, where judgements are typically made not only in relation to the tenants' needs and demands but also in relation to the impact on schemes. Evidence is presented from a recent study of sheltered and amenity housing in Scotland, which exposes these issues and suggestions are made as to how the traditional model of sheltered housing can be made more flexible and more suited to those who need and value it most.     

Factors of Employees’ Effective Voice in Corporate Goverance*

Traditionally, corporate governance has focused on the problem of crafting mechanisms to align the interests of owners and managers. The key characteristic has been to minimize the potential for managers to act in their own self-interest at the expense of shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to focus on employees as stakeholders in the governance process. We argue that creating an environment where employees have help in behaving ethically, in the course of their work, is the first step in encouraging them to voice observations of wrongdoing. Seven groups of professionals in the accounting and insurance fields were surveyed during a 10-year period and asked to indicate the extent to which 14 items were helpful in dealing with ethical challenges. Over 2700 responses were analyzed. The findings indicate that professionals think that their organizational culture and policy for voice was more helpful in dealing with ethical dilemmas than was their professional association. *Presented at the 2004 European Academy of Management Conference in St. Andrews, Scotland